Celebrities Buy Them—Should You?

Find out the benefits of carbon offsets.

By Bridget Nelson
From Reader's Digest
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Carbon offsets—the guilt reducers that fund green projects worldwide—are the cause du jour. But buying one doesn’t mean it’s okay to ditch everyday eco-friendly habits. What offsets actually do:

Energy-efficiency efforts - Environmental groups install fluorescent lightbulbs, stoves and other energy-saving products in developing countries and low-income U.S. neighborhoods. Best type of offset—the needy receive basic necessities while carbon emissions are limited.

Renewable energy credits (RECs) - fund cleaner and cheaper energy sources, like wind power, and farms that convert methane from manure to electricity. They’re a good offset, but see “Don’t Be Scammed,” below.

Tree-planting, reforestation - These replace red oaks in Arkansas’s Ozark National Forest, where insects have ravaged trees, and mangrove forests in India that were flattened by the tsunami. Though trees hold carbon only temporarily, they also help the earth by reducing erosion and runoff.

Don't Be Scammed
  • Make sure the project has a Gold Standard rating (cdmgoldstandard.org) or is Green-e certified (green-e.org).
  • Only buy into projects labeled “additional,” or you might be paying for efforts that will happen anyway. Offsets less than $5 per ton are probably not additional.
  • Another option: Buy through your utility (for information, visit eere.energy.gov).


    • Offsets You Can Trust
    These get a stamp of approval from top enviro-watchers:

    my-climate.com
    nativeenergy.com
    climatecare.org
    atmosfair.de
    climatefriendly.com
    From Reader's Digest - November 2007
     
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